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Caravanserai
of a Safavid caravanserai.]] A caravanserai or khan (Persian: كاروانسرا kārvānsarā, Turkish: kervansaray) was a (usually Persian-inspired or built) roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa, and South-Eastern Europe. Architecture Most typically a caravanserai was a building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. The courtyard was almost always open to the sky, and the inside walls of the enclosure were outfitted with a number of identical stalls, bays, niches, or chambers to accommodate merchants and their servants, animals, and merchandise.Sims, Eleanor. 1978. Trade and Travel: Markets and Caravanserais.' In: Michell, George. (ed.). 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World - Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 101. Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual ablutions. Sometimes they even had elaborate baths. They also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travellers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, there could be shops where merchants could dispose of some of their goods.Ciolek, T. Matthew. 2004-present. Catalogue of Georeferenced Caravanserais/Khans. Old World Trade Routes (OWTRAD) Project. Canberra: www.ciolek.com - Asia Pacific Research Online. Etymology The word is also rendered as caravansarai or caravansary. The Persian word kārvānsarā is a compound word combining ''kārvān (caravan) with sara (palace, building with enclosed courts), to which the Persian suffix ''-yi'' is added. Here "caravan" means a group of traders, pilgrims, or other travelers, engaged in long distance travel. The caravanserai was also known as a khan (Persian خان), han in Turkish, funduq in Arabic, and fundaco in Venice. In music Loreena McKennitt's album An Ancient Muse features a track titled Caravanserai. Kitaro has a song called "Caravansary" (Listen:http://www.imeem.com/groups/UIFTXwIt/music/Lolg8lJK/kitaro_caravansary/)on his album Silk Road IV: Tenjiku/India (1983)http://www.gigapolis.com/kitaro/en/discography/cds/kitaro_cds/tenjiku/index.php. It also appears on the albums Daylight, Moonlight: Live in Yakushiji (2002)http://www.music-city.org/Kitaro/Daylight,-Moonlight:-Live-in-Yakushiji-201747/ and Best of Silk Road (2003)http://www.music-city.org/Kitaro/Best-of-Silk-Road-167378/. The term also appears in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Hold, monsters! Ere your pirate caravanserai / Proceed, against our will, to wed us all, / Just bear in mind that we are Wards in Chancery, / And father is a Major-General! Santana released an album named Caravanserai on the Columbia label. Notable caravansarais *Khan As'ad Pasha *Khan Jaqmaq *Khan Sulayman Pasha *Khan Tuman *Khan al-Tujjar (Mount Tabor) *Khan al-Tujjar (Nablus) *Khan al-Umdan *Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh *Rabati Malik Caravanserai *Hanul lui Manuc Gallery File:Sadolsaltaneh_caravanserai.jpg|Interior of the Caravanserai of Sa'd al-Saltaneh in Qazvin. File:Hotel Shah Abbas Sahn.jpg|Caravanserai of Shah Abbas, now a hotel, in Isfahan. View is from courtyard (sahn). File:Sangi caravansara.jpg|''Caravanserai Sangi'' in Zanjan. File:Caravansarai Karaj.jpg|A caravanserai in Karaj, Iran of Safavid era File:Caravanserai-Sheki.jpg|Caravanserai in Shaki, Azerbaijan File:Neyestanak_Caravanserai_Inner_Courtyard_2007-01-01.jpg|Abandoned caravanserai in Neyestānak, Iran File:Akko-13-The Khan al-Umdan.jpg|Khan al-Umdan in Acre, Israel File:Khan As'ad Pacha Al-'Azem.jpg|Khan As'ad Pasha in Damascus, Syria File: Agzikarahan1.jpg|caravanserai portal near Aksaray, Turkey See also *Islamic architecture *Turkish architecture *Persian architecture *Persian gardens and bagh Further reading * Branning, Katharine. 2002. The Seljuk Han in Anatolia. www.Turkishhan.org, New York, USA. * Encyclopædia Iranica, p. 798-802 * Erdmann, Kurt, Erdmann, Hanna. 1961. Das anatolische Karavansaray des 13. Jahrhunderts, 3 vols. Berlin: Mann, 1976, ISBN 3-7861-2241-5 * Hillenbrand, Robert. 1994. Islamic Architecture: Form, function and meaning. NY: Columbia University Press. (see Chapter VI for an in depth overview of the caravanserai). * Kiani, Mohammad Yusef. 1976. Caravansaries in Khorasan Road. Reprinted from: Traditions Architecturales en Iran, Tehran, No. 2 & 3, 1976. * Yavuz, Aysil Tükel. 1997. The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravanserais. In: Gülru Necipoglu (ed). 1997. Muqarnas XIV: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 80-95. Available online as a PDF document, 1.98 MB archnet.org/library/pubdownloader/pdf/8967/doc/DPC1304.pdf. References External links * www.consideratcaravanserai.net: Text and photos on research on caravanserai and travel journeys in Central Asia and Middle East. Category:Caravanserais Category:Middle East Category:Iranian architecture Category:Hotel types Category:Khans in Israel and Palestine af:Karavanserai ar:كاروانسرا bs:Karavanska stanica bg:Кервансарай ca:Caravanserrall cs:Karavansaraj de:Karawanserei es:Caravasar fa:کاروانسرا fr:Caravansérail gl:Caravasar io:Karavanserayo it:Caravanserraglio he:חאן (מבנה) ka:ქარვასლა nl:Karavanserai ja:キャラバンサライ no:Karavaneserai pl:Karawanseraj pt:Caravançarai ru:Караван-сарай th:สถานีคาราวาน tr:Kervansaray uk:Караван-сарай vi:Du lịch Caravan